Hard drive not detected when reinstalled

Marx · 10-02-2007, 12:01 AM

I have a 750mghz computer running on windows xp with a maxtor 20gbyte ide hard drive, This was absolutely running fine for years but just recently my son removed the hdisk from my computer and installed it on his friends computer via the cdrom ide without changing the jumper settings which was set to master, he said it was detected on his friends computer as a secondary master and they transferred some game files from my harddisk to his friends comp harddisk. But when he reinstalled it on my computer the hard disk was no longer detected and a message appear DISK BOOT FAIL. I tried to access the bios set up and Auto Detect the disk but it can not be detected , the bios says Primary Master None.I tried to change the ide cable with a new one suspecting that it mught have been damaged during removal but still the disk cannot be detected.
Please help me I have all my important files on this disk .

**Deleted090308** · 10-02-2007, 04:32 AM

Hi, welcome to TSF.

First ground yourself by touching the back of the case. Then disconnect the computer from the wall and open the case.
Make sure the jumper is set to master and that the drive is connected at the end of the ribbon cable. If there's another device connected to the same cable - make sure it's set to slave.
Check the connections at the drive and at the motherboard and try another power plug to the drive.
Enter BIOS and set all channels to "Auto" - save and exit BIOS.

Marx · 10-02-2007, 09:18 AM

Did all as per your instructions , when i exited bios the computer did a restart and the same message appeared, DISK BOOT FAILURE.. tried to listen to the disk drive for some noise but it seems that there is no activity. It looks like the disk is dead..

**Deleted090308** · 10-02-2007, 09:27 AM

Did you try different power plugs? Try the drive in another computer.

10-02-2007, 12:01 AM	#1 (permalink)
Marx Registered User Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 2 OS: WINDOWS 98	Hard drive not detected when reinstalled I have a 750mghz computer running on windows xp with a maxtor 20gbyte ide hard drive, This was absolutely running fine for years but just recently my son removed the hdisk from my computer and installed it on his friends computer via the cdrom ide without changing the jumper settings which was set to master, he said it was detected on his friends computer as a secondary master and they transferred some game files from my harddisk to his friends comp harddisk. But when he reinstalled it on my computer the hard disk was no longer detected and a message appear DISK BOOT FAIL. I tried to access the bios set up and Auto Detect the disk but it can not be detected , the bios says Primary Master None.I tried to change the ide cable with a new one suspecting that it mught have been damaged during removal but still the disk cannot be detected. Please help me I have all my important files on this disk .

10-02-2007, 04:32 AM	#2 (permalink)
Deleted090308 Not... Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 22,277 OS: Xp	Re: Hard drive not detected when reinstalled Hi, welcome to TSF. First ground yourself by touching the back of the case. Then disconnect the computer from the wall and open the case. Make sure the jumper is set to master and that the drive is connected at the end of the ribbon cable. If there's another device connected to the same cable - make sure it's set to slave. Check the connections at the drive and at the motherboard and try another power plug to the drive. Enter BIOS and set all channels to "Auto" - save and exit BIOS.

10-02-2007, 09:18 AM	#3 (permalink)
Marx Registered User Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 2 OS: WINDOWS 98	Re: Hard drive not detected when reinstalled Did all as per your instructions , when i exited bios the computer did a restart and the same message appeared, DISK BOOT FAILURE.. tried to listen to the disk drive for some noise but it seems that there is no activity. It looks like the disk is dead..

10-02-2007, 09:27 AM	#4 (permalink)
Deleted090308 Not... Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 22,277 OS: Xp	Re: Hard drive not detected when reinstalled Did you try different power plugs? Try the drive in another computer.